#BookReview All That’s Dead by Stuart MacBride @StuartMacBride @HarperFiction

All That’s Dead by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Darkness is coming…

Inspector Logan McRae was looking forward to a nice simple case – something to ease him back into work after a year off on the sick. But the powers-that-be have other ideas…

The high-profile anti-independence campaigner, Professor Wilson, has gone missing, leaving nothing but bloodstains behind. There’s a war brewing between the factions for and against Scottish Nationalism. Infighting in the police ranks. And it’s all playing out in the merciless glare of the media. Logan’s superiors want results, and they want them now.

Someone out there is trying to make a point, and they’re making it in blood. If Logan can’t stop them, it won’t just be his career that dies.

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The Logan McRae series is a favorite series of mine. No one can mix crime and humor as Stuart Macbride and this book is no exception. And, it all starts with a missing body, and that's not the first body to go missing. However, Logan also has to deal with the fact that the cop that runs this investigation has, let's say a black spot on his record. And, now a journalist is threatening to reveal it all. And, to top it all Logan is the one set to help out the investigation because the powers to be needs a scapegoat. And, who's better than Logan?

There is so much going on in this book that I will just say this: This book is great from the beginning until the end. There are plenty of funny moments, my favorite fictional cat Cthulhu and Logan's children have great cameos. The case is interesting, and of course, Roberta Steel is there to make Logan's life worse. And, that ending...

So, what are you waiting for? Go out and get a copy of this book (and the rest of the books in the series)...

I want to thank the publisher for providing me with a free copy through NetGalley for an honest review!

#Bookreview The Blood Road by Stuart MacBride @StuartMacBride @HarperFiction @HarperCollinsUK

The Blood Road by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Some things just won’t stay buried…

Logan McRae’s personal history is hardly squeaky clean, but now that he works for Professional Standards it’s his job to police his fellow officers.

When Detective Inspector Bell turns up dead in the driver’s seat of a crashed car it’s a shock to everyone. Because Bell died two years ago, they buried him. Or they thought they did.

As an investigation is launched into Bell’s stabbing, Logan digs into his past. Where has he been all this time? Why did he disappear? And what’s so important he felt the need to come back from the dead?

But the deeper Logan digs, the more bones he uncovers—and there are people out there who’ll kill to keep those skeletons buried. If Logan can’t stop them, DI Bell won’t be the only one to die…

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I mentally squealed with delight when I saw that my audiobook service had this book. Even though it was over 16 hours to listen through. But, if there is one author I can trust completely to make all those 16 hours of pure fun and bloody joy is it Stuart MacBride. And, I speed it up so the narrator speaks as fast I speak and think (and I speak fast)!

As I was saying, this book is pure fun straight through and it all starts with a dead body of Detective Inspector Bell. He's been murdered. The problem is that they buried him two years ago. So, who is it they buried, and what has "Ding Dong" Bell been doing these last two years? Logan shouldn't be working the case since he now works for Professional Standards, policing the police. But, he gets dragged in to do the investigation. And, the more he investigates the more problem he gets, especially dangerous kind of problem...

Honestly, I just love this book so much! I love Logan, his cat Cthulhu that he talks too (perfectly normal), I love his daughters (oh the part when Logan's girlfriend has to babysit them when Roberta drops them off hilarious), and of course Roberta Steel. She's a rock in Logan's shoe. But, wait until the end of the book, then she shows her through colors concerning Logan. And, well just read the darn book! You love it!

#BookReview Now We Are Dead by Stuart MacBride @StuartMacBride @HarperCollins

Now We Are Dead by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

From the No. 1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series, comes a standalone spinoff featuring DS Roberta Steel
Sergeant Roberta Steel has recently been demoted after being caught fitting up a suspect. The trouble is, the man she got sent down has had his sentence quashed now he’s back on the streets. And women are being attacked again. But if DS Steel goes anywhere near him his lawyers will get her thrown off the force for good.

The Powers That Be won’t listen to her not after what happened last time. Besides, she’s got more than enough ongoing cases to keep her busy perhaps she should focus on solving them instead of harassing an innocent man?

But Steel knows he’s guilty and the longer he gets away with it, the more women will suffer. The question is: how much is she willing to sacrifice to stop him?

**********

A novel starring DS Roberta Steel? Can that really work? I mean I like her, she is a great character in the Logan McRae series. But, can she really front her own own book? Oh yes, she can!

If you have read any of Stuart MacBride's books, then you already know he's a terrific writer, a man that can write a crime book that feels like three books crammed into one (it works, don't know how, but it does) and mix action, humor and tragedy and hilarious banter (trust me, listening to any of the books he has written can be both entertaining and hard work keeping the smile from your face and scaring the people around you who don't understand why you are giggling).

Where was I? Oh, yes the book, man I can't express enough how wonderful this book is. Although I should perhaps have written down notes. Although it had probably not have helped that much trying to explain this book story without giving away the plot.

So, I will just say this, yes this book can be read as a stand-alone without having read ANY of Stuart MacBride books before (although it's a plus if you have done that, then you know more about her "relationship" with Logan). Also, this book is way thinner than the other books I have read, at least it felt like that, still the story is marvelous, the time just flies when I started to read this book so it could be that. And, finally I just want to say, I want more. Yes, I need more books starring Roberta Steel!

So, there you have it, a very messy review, but it just reflects my messy brain as I try to summarize my feelings towards this book...

I want to thank Harper Collins for providing me with a free copy through Edelweiss for an honest review!

#BookReview A Dark So Deadly by Stuart MacBride @StuartMacBride @HarperCollins @Marablaise

A Dark So Deadly by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Gripping standalone thriller from the Sunday Times No. 1 bestselling author of the Logan McRae series.

Welcome to the Misfit Mob…

It’s where Police Scotland dumps the officers it can’t get rid of, but wants to: the outcasts, the troublemakers, the compromised. Officers like DC Callum MacGregor, lumbered with all the boring go-nowhere cases. So when an ancient mummy turns up at the Oldcastle tip, it’s his job to find out which museum it’s been stolen from.

But then Callum uncovers links between his ancient corpse and three missing young men, and life starts to get a lot more interesting. O Division’s Major Investigation Teams already have more cases than they can cope with, so, against everyone’s better judgement, the Misfit Mob are just going to have to manage this one on their own.

No one expects them to succeed, but right now they’re the only thing standing between the killer’s victims and a slow, lingering death. The question is, can they prove everyone wrong before he strikes again?

**********

If there is someone I trust to write an all through enjoyable 600-page crime novel is it Stuart MacBride. And, I have to admit that I'm not that fond of books that thick. Not everyone is capable of writing a book with so many pages and keeping the steam up all the way through. Stephen King is one that can do it. And, Stuart MacBride is truly a King when it comes to writing a story that is both hilarious, tragic, dark, sad and utterly engrossing.

This is a stand-alone book so no Logan McRae as far as the eye can see. At first, when I realized that it was a stand-alone book was I a bit worried. No Logan, no Roberta Steel? But, then again I love the Ash Henderson series (Ps I want more books about Ash Henderson). So, I shouldn't have been worried.

Instead of reading the book did I decide to listen to the audio version of it. And boy, I was hooked pretty much from the start. DC Callum MacGregor is a new favorite character of mine and I was thrilled when one of my favorite characters from the Ash Henderson series showed up.

A Dark So Deadly is a fantastic crime novel and I loved the whole Misfit Mob group which consists of cops that have done something wrong or are just troublemakers, etc. The case with the mummy seems not that complicated. Someone must have stolen a mummy from a museum. However, not everything is as it seems and the Misfit Mob soon realize that they may have a serial killer to catch. If they can work together.

Fabulous book. Loved the ending, truly shocking and surprising!

The Top 15 books of 2016

My Top 10 books of 2016 quickly turned into top 15 instead of 10 when I started to go through the books I've read. It could just as easily have been top 20, but I had to draw a line somewhere. The books are in no particular order because that would just mean hours of agony and indecision. So, on to the books: 

From New York Times bestselling author and famed former Manhattan prosecutor Linda Fairstein comes a chilling new Alexandra Cooper novel, Entombed, in which Alex matches wits with the master of detective fiction himself-Edgar Allan Poe...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Sometimes I wish that she’d just leave me in peace . . .

Psychologist Evi is worried about one of her patients – a woman who is convinced her little girl is still alive. Two years after the fire that burnt their house down.

Meanwhile, the new vicar in town is feeling strangely unwelcome. Disturbing events seem designed to scare him away.

And a young boy keeps seeing a strange, solitary girl playing in the churchyard. Who is she and what is she trying to tell him?

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Media calls him "The Birthday boy" because he kidnappers girls just before they turn thirteen and then he sends pictures of them home to their families showing how he slowly tortures them to death. Every year they get a new card. 5 years ago Detective Constable Ash Henderson's daughter Rebecca was kidnapped. One year later get a card, but he keeps that a secret for his colleagues and because if they would know would he not be able to stay on the investigation...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

From the bestselling author of Girl in Translation, a novel about a young woman torn between her family duties in Chinatown and her escape into the world of ballroom dancing...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

West Hall, Vermont, has always been a town of strange disappearances and old legends. The most mysterious is that of Sara Harrison Shea, who, in 1908, was found dead in the field behind her house just months after the tragic death of her daughter...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Mary Russell is used to dark secrets—her own, and those of her famous partner and husband, Sherlock Holmes. Trust is a thing slowly given, but over the course of a decade together, the two have forged an indissoluble bond...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Jerome Burnel was once a hero. He intervened to prevent multiple killings and in doing so damned himself. His life was torn apart. He was imprisoned, brutalized.

But in his final days, with the hunters circling, he tells his story to private detective Charlie Parker. He speaks of the girl who was marked for death but was saved, of the ones who tormented him, and an entity that hides in a ruined stockade...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

The world is on the brink of an apocalyptic disaster. An ancient species, long dormant, is now very much awake...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Lorena "Hick" Hickok is assigned to cover Eleanor Roosevelt in the 1932 political campaign. This is the start of a love story that would last for years, despite long periods of separations and the fact that Eleanor Roosevelt was to become The First Lady of United States. But, this love story could not last. Madame, that Hick so lovingly called Eleanor could never become someone anonymous again, even after FDR death.

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

In her storied career as a Texas Ranger, Caitlin has confronted all manner of villains, but nothing that’s prepared her for the terrorist group ISIS’s pursuit of a devastating weapon on Lone Star State soil. The land in question lies on an Indian reservation where a drilling operation steeped in mystery and controversy is about to commence under the auspices of shadowy billionaire Cray Rawls...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Beautiful and brilliant, Kendra Donovan is a rising star at the FBI. Yet her path to professional success hits a speed bump during a disastrous raid where half her team is murdered, a mole in the FBI is uncovered and she herself is severely wounded. As soon as she recovers, she goes rogue and travels to England to assassinate the man responsible for the deaths of her teammates...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Held captive for eight years, Lily has grown from a teenager to an adult in a small basement prison. Her daughter Sky has been a captive her whole life. But one day their captor leaves the deadbolt unlocked...

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Samantha Whipple is used to stirring up speculation wherever she goes. As the last remaining descendant of the Brontë family, she's rumored to have inherited a vital, mysterious portion of the Brontë's literary estate; diaries, paintings, letters, and early novel drafts; a hidden fortune that's never been shown outside of the family.,,

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

The dead don’t tell secrets… unless you listen.

The girl’s smashed-in face stared unseeing up to the blue sky, soil spilling out of her mouth. A hundred flies hovered above the bloodied mess.

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

A five-year-old boy from a remote farm on the plains of Skåne disappear late one summer evening in 1983. The only trail after him is a shoe in the tall corn fields. 

Although the whole neighborhood gets involved in the search do they not find him, and rumors and suspicions spread quickly. And, the clumsy criminal investigation is, in the end, closed down when they can't find the boy, and the grief and uncertainty get the boy's family to slowly fall apart.

READ MY REVIEW OF THE BOOK HERE

Thoughts and honorable mentions:

The hardest part was I found other really great books while making this list. But, I decided when I made this list that I would not change since it would only make everything messy. And, soon I would be up in Top 25 instead of top 15...;)

But, I would like to mention some really great books that I read during 2016 that I found to be brilliant: Dead Man Walking by Simon R. Green, Arrowood by Laura McHugh, Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire, Melody Bittersweet and The Girls' Ghostbusting Agency by Kitty French and Redemption Road by John Hart...Honestly I could go on and list all my 5-star books, but instead just check out my Goodreads page! 😉

When you are done here can you check out my friend's lists/wrap ups:

Layered Pages

The Maiden's Court

2 Kids and Tired

#BookReview A Song for the Dying by Stuart MacBride (SWE/ENG)

A Song for the Dying by Stuart MacBride
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

SWEDISH REVIEW

Åtta år har gått sedan den brutala mördaren satte skräck i Oldcastles befolkning. Fyra kvinnor kidnappades, lemlästades och lämnades att dö – alla med plastdockor insydda i sina magar. Sedan, utan någon förklaring, upphörde morden tvärt.

Då var det ​kriminalinspektör Ash Henderson som höll i utredningen. Nu är hans familj splittrad, karriären i spillror och han riskerar att få tillbringa resten av sitt liv i fängelse. Men när ytterligare en kvinna hittas död ser Ash äntligen en chans till återupprättelse. En chans att bli fri. En chans att hämnas.

En sång för de döda är andra boken om Ash Henderson. Den första, Hälsning från de döda, kom ut 2015.

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Om det är en bok som jag har väntat på att få läsa i några månader så är det En sång för de döda. Jag läste första boken i serien i våras och älskade den. Tja, på det sätt som jag gillar att läsa brutala, hemska berättelser med fantastiska karaktärer. Jag hoppades att denna bok skulle vara lika bra som den föregående och speciellt hoppades jag på att Alice skulle vara med i denna bok också. Jag fullständigt älskade henne i den första boken. Hon var ljusstrålen i en annars mörk och dyster berättelse. Jag är glad att kunna säga att hon har även en stor roll i denna bok och att hon är lika knepig som i första boken. Ash är givetvis också tillbaka, men han är fortfarande i fängelse även om han har blivit frikänd från mordanklagelsen. Dock har Mrs. Kerrigan fixat så han är kvar där tills hon säger något annat. Men så fixas Ash ut från fängelset tack vare höga chefer som vill att han ska hjälpa till att fånga en mördare som han misslyckades med att fånga för åtta år sedan, en mördare som nu är tillbaka. Och visst, han hjälper gärna till med det, men hans huvudsakliga mål är att döda Mrs. Kerrigan, gärna väldigt sakta...

En sång för de döda är precis lika bra som den första boken i serien. Ash Henderson och Alice McDonald är tillbaka och arbetar för att stoppa Insidern, men Ash är också väldigt sugen på att stoppa Mrs. Kerrigan för gott. Men varken Insider fallet eller Mrs. Kerrigan bortgång kommer att bli enkla utmaningar. En sång för de döda är en bok där jag inte ville att berättelsen skulle ta slut, men på samma sätt så ville jag få reda på vad som skulle hända härnäst. Det var väldigt svårt att lägga ifrån sig boken då berättelsen hade några intressanta vändningar mellan varven. Jag var lite oroad att MacBride hade valt den mest logiska kandidaten för att vara bokens mördare, men jag hade inte alls behövt oro mig då MacBride hade helt andra planer än att göra det enkelt för Ash (och läsaren). Jag älskade slutet, det var väldigt tillfredsställande och det var skönt att det inte slutade med en cliffhanger som föregående boken gjorde. Men jag hoppas verkligen att detta inte är den sista Ash och Alice boken. Jag vill ha flera!

Tack till HarperCollins Nordic för recensionexemplaret!

ENGLISH REVIEW

He’s back...

Eight years ago, ‘The Inside Man’ murdered four women and left three more in critical condition—all of them with their stomachs slit open and a plastic doll stitched inside.

And then the killer just... disappeared.

Ash Henderson was a Detective Inspector on the initial investigation, but a lot can change in eight years. His family has been destroyed, his career is in tatters, and one of Oldcastle’s most vicious criminals is making sure he spends the rest of his life in prison.

Now a nurse has turned up dead on a patch of waste ground, a plastic doll buried beneath her skin, and it looks as if Ash might finally get a shot at redemption. At earning his freedom.

At revenge.

************

If there is one book that I've been waiting to read this year is it A Song for the Dying. I read the first book in the series this spring and I loved it. In the way, I love reading a brutal, horrifying story with great characters. I hoped that this book would be just as good and I really hoped that Alice would be back in this book. I loved her in the first book, she was the one thing that made a pretty dark and depressing story a bit brighter. And, I'm happy to say that she is in this book just as quirky as in the previous book. As for Ash himself, well, he is in prison, though, he has been cleared of the murder charge, but Mrs. Kerrigan is the one that has fixed it so that he will stay there until she says otherwise. However, now the powers to be have managed to get him out, to help with the investigation of a killer that he failed to catch eight years ago that is now back. And, sure he will do that, but his main plan is to kill Mrs. Kerrigan, preferably very slow... 

This book was just as good as the first book in the series. Ash Henderson and Alice McDonald are back together working and yes Ash wants to get the Insider caught, but he is also quite eager to kill Mrs. Kerrigan. However, neither catching the Insider or killing Mrs. Kerrigan will turn out to be so easy. A Song for the Dying is the kind of book when one just doesn't want the story to finish at the same time you want to know what will happen next. And, it was pretty hard to put the book down when I started to read it. There were some interesting twists to the story, I was a bit worried when it looked like MacBride had picked the most logical candidate to be the killer. However, it made sure to twist the story around. I loved the ending. It's the kind of ending that felt very satisfying, not the cliffhanger kind of ending that the last book had. However, I do hope this is not the last Ash and Alice book. I want more!

Thanks to HarperCollins Nordic for the review copy!